Buhari’s treatment of Arewa youths proof quit notice politically motivated- IYC

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has criticized what it described as President Muhammadu Buhari’s double standards and ill-handling of agitations by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the people of the Niger Delta.

The IYC said in a statement on Sunday that the Buhari administration had entrenched double standards in national affairs as evidenced by the disparate treatment of the Arewa youth leaders who issued quit notice to Igbos resident in the North and the agitators in the country especially members of IPOB and Niger Delta groups.

The factional President of IYC, Eric Omare, said it was the height of nepotism and sectionalism for Buhari’s administration to treat the Arewa youths who committed serious offence bordering on national security with kid gloves.

He lamented that while the Arewa youths were being hosted to state dinners, the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, was being threatened with arrest, while several Niger Delta activities languished in detention.

Read also: Embrace constructive dialogue in addressing agitations, Okupe advises Buhari

Omare said, ‘’The way and manner the Arewa youths were treated clearly justifies our earlier position that the quit notice was politically-motivated and had the backing of the Hausa/Fulani political class.

“A further confirmation of the involvement of the political class was the presence of the Governor of Borno State and the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Kashim Shettima, at the press conference to suspend the politically-motivated quit notice and the state hosting of the Arewa youths leaders by the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje.

‘’Nigerians will recall the questionable role played by … in the controversial kidnap of the Chibok girls to blackmail the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. The IYC is convinced that if the Arewa youth leaders were to be members of IPOB or from the Niger Delta region, they would have been in DSS underground detention cells by now. Even Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State who earlier ordered for the arrest of the Arewa youth leaders has gone mute.

‘’While the Arewa youths are enjoying state dinners, Niger Delta youth activists such as Ezekiel Daniel, Alex Odogu, ex-militant leader, Bonny Gawei and several others are in underground detention cells. Ezekiel Daniel has been in DSS detention for more than a year for a mere Facebook comment. This is sad and unacceptable. The IYC condemns this institutionalisation of double standard in national affairs by the Buhari administration in the strongest terms.’’

He argued that with the way the Arewa youths were treated, the Buhari administration had lost the justification to threaten to re-arrest Kanu or any other agitators in the southern part of Nigeria.

 

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